Susan,
Also, the OP stated that they were moved the following day to a room that met all of her requests and the rest of her vacation went swimmingly well. So, there are instances where they have moved people when there is a problem. However, I am sure they would not simply move you if you didn't have a "need" but only a "want" without a fee.
Susan,
Just a quick correction here: Yes, we moved to another studio the next day. The only request meet was non-smoking. We did not get our location request, but a location request is something that if you get; YEAH! if not, no big deal. They were going to charge us a room change fee, until the manager agreed to waive that. We had no idea you had to request a non-HA, and all this business about "medical" reasons and so forth concerning smoking. It is obvious that booking at a DIS Vacation Club resort is way more complicated and streeful than booking at a non-dis property, or coming in as a cash paying customer.
HOWEVER, once we did get a regular studio, we had a WONDERFUL time!
I just don't want to go through all that we have been through in our last two trips. So, we have sold our membership and will choose to experience DIS as cash paying customers.
I DO believe that DIS closes off certain sections of the resorts to limit the work. So at times, when they say the are "full" they mean the sections that they are using are full. SO, if all that is available in that section is a smoking or HA room that is what you get, even though there may be 25 rooms available in the section they have closed. They are pretty sneaky! We have always gone in September and May, and they claim they are full???? Don't believe it!